A false bomb alert has led to the evacuation of the area around the Colosseum in Rome for several minutes, after a person left a backpack there and walked away.

After a few moments of confusion, the Colosseum Archaeological Park reported on social networks that the alarm had been removed and that the backpack inspected contained only water bottles.

The authorities were alerted after some passers-by observed a person leave his backpack and walk away, although according to local media it could have been one of the street vendors present in the tourist areas of the Italian capital.

Once the adhesive tape that cordoned off the area was removed, to which a police anti-explosive unit moved, the tourists applauded and began to enter the archaeological park again.

This is the third false alarm that Rome has experienced since the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East has raised the anti-terrorist alert in European cities.

Last week there were moments of panic at Termini central station, when an alarm started ringing by mistake for five minutes; and a day before, the Jewish school in Rome in Portico Di Ottavia was evicted due to a false telephone threat.

The Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, then recalled that “the level of alert on terrorism in Italy has already been raised” and that for the moment “there are no direct threats”, although there could always be a lone fundamentalist.

The Ministry of the Interior also reinforced the police presence in Jewish neighborhoods and “sensitive” areas of the country, some of which already had military surveillance posts for years.